Vancouver’s Ryan Chan aka 747 reappears with two atmospheric 303 journeys on the Canadian label Aquaregia. Unrelated to Aqua Regia, the founder of Irdial Discs, the imprint run by Emily Nicoll in Toronto keeps the focus on acid techno, which goes airborne in 747’s interpretations. “Veiltail” is of more ordinary kind, which after a buoyant intro doesn’t conceal dancefloor ambitions and would work well in a mix next to “Age Of Love”. A strong recommendation gets the B-side’s “Stairway”. Here 747 starts with broken rhythms, before the underlying drone activates fiery 303 sequences and dreamy arps ..read more

In the 1990s, Juice Records (with artists Dirty House Crew, DJ HMC, Cinnaman, etc.) were major techno and house exports from Adelaide, and from down under overall. Adelaide was also the home of Aerial Recordings. Local artist Matthew Thomas set it up, resulting in only two releases under his Aquila moniker. I picked up “Cycle EP”, the label’s 1996 debut, when visiting Toronto. Sadly, I sold a bit later because it sounded like Ian Pooley’s “Silvershower” EPs, and Plus 8 was a more famous label too … In fact, “Cycle EP” is still a great two-tracker. Subsequently, “Ritual EP” was haunting me for ..read more

Schuttle, co-founder of Manchester’s Bakk Heia Records, reappears with a four-tracker on the label that carries an amusing name. The catalogue number BH006 (don’t mix up with Berceuse Heroique) offers an interesting mix from acidic breaks to minimal house, which plays the main role on the A-side. Grooving opener “Shadout” takes a walk under blossoming cherry trees, free from any sorrows. Recalling Trapez and artists like Nôze or UND, “Souvlaki” is dished up in a theatrical milieu, for watching a play of marionettes, guided by stripped dub house and tender voice samples. “Swords Dance (Parts 1 ..read more

Amusingly energetic two volumes of “White Keys” were something to remember from 2020, with sweeping cuts like “Trouble In Tahiti” or “The Flying Dutchman”. These two EPs came from Alpha Tracks, a project of the Austrian artist Felix Benedikt, who now teams up with the Norwegian trance producer Filip Storsveen under the Kineta moniker. The first part of the triptych offers plenty of guilty pleasure for techno folks, the opener “Aquila” being blatant proto-Goa with Blümchen-style pitched vocals. The BPM-meter is in unrestricted mode and piercing arps are doing the damage. Actually, the track nam ..read more

Kerrie expands the already sizable footprint of  Cultivated Electronics (CE), when this summer she released practically a full length, split into two much-applauded EPs. With her tracks, the Irish-born Manchester resident adds harsher angle to the electro repertoire the label is renowned for. In the first part, increasingly obligatory acid lines furnish the opener “Heptapod K”, followed by robotic mugging in “Droid Nation”. The untamed dash of “Swarm”, powered by malfunctioning hoovers and blurry vocal samples, is a worthy candidate for keeping the traditions of L.A.M. alive, while at B2 ..read more

New tracks from the Estonian techno project Killerkat, a driving force behind the HALL club in Tallinn, who is playing on the 1990’s pitch in the first halftime. Rooted in the spirit of Harthouse and Superstition, semi-trance “Ripple Drift” is paving the way to my favorite, “Cherry Tree”, a mature production with dubby synth lines recalling the Atlantic Ocean’s “Waterfall”, and broken beats closer to the end. Two versions of “Cosmic Connection” are less inspirational when offering looping synth buzz, while agile “Test Result” with ‘positive/negative’ puts the ongoing global health concerns int ..read more

It’s about the year 1993 and a journey between Zeebrugge and Dover, for discovering repetitive beats both in the CO2-rich industrial areas of Albion and the Continent. Recently, the call of desolate warehouses and vast outdoor venues of bygone times has become very common in electronic music and Sansibar takes his turn with “Game Over”. The title cut comes from techno’s moody side with relaxing grooves and delicate breakbeats. The next, “S1 Type Beat” orders gas masks as dress code, with vocals in the mist of metallic dubs and Sensurreal-style thundering tripping. In usual circumstances, ‘tran ..read more

Harmonious Thelonious is a tour guide to the amazing world of native polyrhythms, steering a perpetual percussion machine to exciting locations around the globe. In a new expedition for London’s The Trilogy Tapes, Middle East serves as a source of inspiration for Stefan Schwander’s project that is able to impress after many active years. With lulling Oriental strings and swaying percussion, “Women’s Chorus From The Region Of …” is for admiring the vastness of dunes from a stretched out caravan carrying nuts and honey to the next oasis, while saxed-up “Halb Ding” welcomes a casual jazz invasion ..read more

The release is probably from 1993 or 1994, when hard trance was still in a dominant position in Germany, with Harthouse pictured in the middle and flanked by labels such as 23 Frankfurt, Delirium, Superstition, Plastic City and many others. The scene dished out an enormous amount of twelves that can be still found in bargain bins, as I recently experienced at Frankfurt’s City Beat Records. This is a real dusted off release because after trying to sell it for €5 many years ago, I had moved it to my collection’s back row. Over the time it hasn’t become much more spectacular but what makes it in ..read more

Otider by SSTROM Buy vinyl from Juno (UK) Buy vinyl from Hard Wax (DE) Buy vinyl from Disk Union (JP)   Non-times in atmospheric scenery Hannes Stenström is one half of Shxcxchcxsh (could be as well Shxcsxshsxs, never learned it) and makes the album debut as SSTROM, released on the duo’s home label Rösten. “Otider”, which translates like ‘non-times’, follows the artist’s EPs on the same label and Semantica and immediately finds a place in the very top of techno’s long formats. The Swede’s nuanced work avoids techno’s current stereotypes and is bravely flirting with atmospheric heritage o ..read more